Like everyone else in the health care field, Dr. Rebecca Byard got her degree because she wanted to help people. When she found herself working in family practice at Washington Hospital with a caseload of about 2,000 patients, with an allotted appointment time of 10 to 15 minutes per patient, she realized this was not what she signed up for.

“It was really very stressful,” she said. The heavy workload and limited time with patients took a toll and she moved from family practice to urgent care with MedExpress, but still something was missing.

“I missed the relationships I had with my patients in primary care,” she said.

She found the best solution with Direct Care Physicians of Pittsburgh (DCPP). Founded by physicians Natalie Gentile and Kirsten Lin, DCPP doesn’t require an insurance card, and typical patient visits are 30 minutes, but can go as long as an hour and a half, depending on the situation. Cost of membership is $89 a month, which covers all doctor visits and offers members significant discounts on medications, lab work and minor procedures. Some examples: a 10-day supply of amoxicillin is $2.72; a month’s supply of the blood pressure medicine lisinopril is 69 cents. Cholesterol panels are $9.48 and a complete blood count is $5.52.

“We take the insurance companies out of the equation. We take all patients,” Byard said.

DCPP has locations in Allison Park, Highland Park and its Mt. Lebanon office opened in October at 750 Washington Road. 412-288-6964, www.directcarepgh.com.